


The Dead Don't Love

by drunkdragon



Category: RWBY
Genre: Angst, F/M, Flawed characters, no one is happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-04-24
Packaged: 2019-04-27 05:00:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14418222
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drunkdragon/pseuds/drunkdragon
Summary: If Raven had to be honest for once, this wasn’t her first time standing in front of Summer’s grave. In spite of all the times she’s tried to avoid Patch, she always came here every now and then. She owed it to the woman at least.





	The Dead Don't Love

**Author's Note:**

> Just some STRQ angst. I will preface in that i haven’t watched V5 yet outside of some select scenes, so bear with me if I get a few things wrong in the beginning. More notes at the end of the piece.

Raven did not expect to see Yang in Haven. If she boiled it all down, she didn’t expect to see her face to face ever again. She would have preferred it to be the case, but life had that terrible way of having the last laugh. Even with all the effort she put into distancing themselves, here they were again, sharing sharp glares as the open door to the relic stood between them.

In the end, enough was enough. She had tried to remain hard, to convince Yang that it was a horrid idea. The target she was putting on her back was irreversible, and neither could she be found together with her.

And so she fled, opening a portal on instinct. But as she flew through, her mind ground to a halt. Vernal was gone. Qrow’s aura was closed off to her and she had no intention of returning to Yang, not after all of this. She tried to reverse it, to turn back, but it was too late.

When everything came to and her boots found solid ground, she was situated at a cliffside overlooking a calm ocean. Soft green grass and patches of wild flowers surrounded her. And in front of it all was a single chiseled stone.

If Raven had to be honest for once, this wasn’t her first time standing in front of Summer’s grave. In spite of all the times she’s tried to avoid Patch, she always came here every now and then. She owed it to the woman at least.

_“Do you… do you even know what you’re asking of me?”_

_“I do, and I don’t do this lightly. You still love Tai, don’t you? Even after all these years?”_

_“… This is bullshit, Raven.”_

Their last conversation was still fresh. To ask her to care for Yang was one thing, but to let her love Tai in her own absence was cruel in another. Her infatuation with the man was made known to all but him, and it lasted far longer than it should have. To offer Summer a pristine version of him would have been ideal, but impossible. All she could leave was a broken man to her name.

But in the end she took it. Maybe it was because she was flawed that Summer struggled to see herself with anyone else. When she finally said yes, Raven drew out her sword and ran the edge from hilt to tip along her palm. And while the blood was still wet and before the wound was healed she flicked the red liquid to the ground three times, once for each of the things she held dear to herself - an old Branwen custom.

The first was for little Yang - may she grow strong yet live peacefully. The next was for her brother. He would come after her, no doubt, but he was good at heart. May his benevolence be bright and guiding.

The last was for Taiyang. Where as the other two were just a fling of her fingers, here she raised her whole hand and rained down whatever blood refused to cling. For he was her life for ten years and her departure would be terrible for the both of them.

_“May this blood of mine bless your path, old friend.”_

_“We haven’t been friends for some time, Raven. And whatever we still had ends here. You had everything I ever wanted, and now you’re throwing it all away to me. I have to pick up after you. I have to care for a man who might never love me, a man who might just use me and think of you._ _But I’ll do it. If this is the only happiness I’ll ever get, then so be it. This lot of yours will be mine. And if whatever you’re doing isn’t worth it in the end and you come crawling back, you will get nothing from me.”_

When the woman looked up at her again, her shoulders trembling with swallowed hiccups echoing between them, it was the angriest Summer had ever been. But she was gone now. Six years into her new life, she died, leaving things even worse than before. And here Raven was, trampling across her grave and regretting every moment away from her family.

What a terrible choice. What a terrible outcome. Everything that had happened in the last month was crashing down upon her, and she fell to her knees. She still cared for the ones she left behind, and now all those years were just wasted.

But the portal didn’t bring her back to Summer. The dead don’t love, after all. And even then, the bond was long lost between them.

“I know you’re there, Tai, and I’m sorry.” Her voice was hardly above a whisper, heavy breaths interspersed between words. “I’m so sorry.”

There were slow footsteps, grass gently giving way to his feet. She didn’t dare look at him. He wasn’t hers anymore, not in front of Summer at least.

But his hand came softly upon her shoulder. It was warm, like yesterday, and she cried.

**Author's Note:**

> Team STRQ is infamously underexplored by RWBY canon. And while I like the idea of everyone being happy and perfect and PolySTRQing and whatnot, I also really like the idea of them being flawed. Once Raven’s semblance was revealed and I got mention of how the finale ended, this came to mind and I had to do it. Hopefully it didn’t seem melodramatic in the end. Let me know if you liked it!


End file.
